destination: anywhere

Final Tally

After driving 966 miles in three days, my apartment hunting trip to Washington, D.C., this weekend yielded these results:

• Interstate 81 through Virginia is the fastest route from Charlotte to D.C., but it’s boooorrring. So boring that I ate my weight in junk food just to have something to do. And thank goodness for The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts to keep me company (chimpanzee that).



• On the way to D.C., my butt fell asleep four hours into the trip (the total drive time is 6 hours 30 min.).
• I loathe that new Red Hot Chili Peppers song, “Dani California”. That’s probably why every radio station I listened to had it on repeat.
• Getting to an apartment 15 minutes before the open house pays off. I got first dibs on two places I looked at because I was able to speak privately to the landlord before the rush started.
• Believe it or not, there are landlords who will accept 100 pets at a time (or at least my four).
• The truck stop in Claytor Lake, Virginia, has the most political writing on the bathroom wall of any place I’ve visited. Lots of jabs at Republicans, democrats, Southerners and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Which is weird because it’s in the middle of nowhere and not close to D.C. Maybe lots of soon-to-be White House interns make a pit stop there.